Paper detail

On the derivative of the associated Legendre function of the first kind of integer order with respect to its degree

In our recent works [R. Szmytkowski, J. Phys. A 39 (2006) 15147; corrigendum: 40 (2007) 7819; addendum: 40 (2007) 14887], we have investigated the derivative of the Legendre function of the first kind, $P_ν(z)$, with respect to its degree $ν$. In the present work, we extend these studies and construct several representations of the derivative of the associated Legendre function of the first kind, $P_ν^{\pm m}(z)$, with respect to the degree $ν$, for $m\in\mathbb{N}$. At first, we establish several contour-integral representations of $\partial P_ν^{\pm m}(z)/\partialν$. They are then used to derive Rodrigues-type formulas for $[\partial P_ν^{\pm m}(z)/\partialν]_{ν=n}$ with $n\in\mathbb{N}$. Next, some closed-form expressions for $[\partial P_ν^{\pm m}(z)/\partialν]_{ν=n}$ are obtained. These results are applied to find several representations, both explicit and of the Rodrigues type, for the associated Legendre function of the second kind of integer degree and order, $Q_{n}^{\pm m}(z)$; the explicit representations are suitable for use for numerical purposes in various regions of the complex $z$-plane. Finally, the derivatives $[\partial^{2}P_ν^{m}(z)/\partialν^{2}]_{ν=n}$, $[\partial Q_ν^{m}(z)/\partialν]_{ν=n}$ and $[\partial Q_ν^{m}(z)/\partialν]_{ν=-n-1}$, all with $m>n$, are evaluated in terms of $[\partial P_ν^{-m}(\pm z)/\partialν]_{ν=n}$.